Foldable vehicle-top.



H. SMITHL FOLDABLE VEHICLE TOP.

' A P1LIOATION FILED we. 16, 1911.

1,066,230. Patented July 1, 1913.

. 0' WITZQIESSVES: i W4 w A mommy.

re ease amino snares seminar ser es.

i intranets $iara..-@r sear-normal Mistresses. C "Croissant waists-Crier.-

To all whom it may concern Be .it known that I, 'H NsoALE SMITH, a "cit-men ofthe' United States of'America, and

I resident of Springfield, in the county of 5 Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful 'Irnprove inents in Foldable 'Vehic-le-Tops, of which the following isa full, clear, and exact description. g

*Anobject'of this invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive, and-easily-andlquickly adjustable means for holding the 'ilrontor horizontal vizor snpporting bow'ot a foldable top forautomobilesin its extended position, and of, such'characterthat no por tions'of thebowsupportii'ig appliances form any impcdiment'to easy entrance into, or exit from, the automobile.

Another object is to provide a new means wl'iereby the front'or 'vizor-supporting bow may lee-folded back upon the other bows; when the top is not in use ,-to form. an unusually compact and better arrangement of the foldable top.

The inyen-tion is described in Conjunction with the accompanying. drawings and is set forth in the claims. 1

In the drawings :Figure 1 is a side elevation of the upper part of anautomobilebody and the attached foldable top in its extended position. -Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken just above the hood or vizor supporting bow, showing'the bow and. the attached means for holding it in its extended position. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of the vizor-supporting bow in its extended position, as seen from the inner side of the automobile. Fig. t is a sectional elevation of the same but showing the parts in their folded position. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the improved device.

This device is more especially intended to be used with automobiles having two seats and carrying a flexible top, designed when not in use, to be folded back beyond the rear seat in a compactarrangement, and to this end the hood orvizor-supporting bow has simple and peculiarly arranged means for holding it in its extended position and for quickly and easily folding it back upon the other rear bows in a compact form.

, It is often the case in automobile tops having hoods of the type to which this invention. relates that metallic supports and i straps extend from the front of the hoodto the lower extremity of the front vertical the automobile diflic'ult, but-under niyj iihventlon this ,difliculty is; overcome, as will be rendered apparent herein. l i

. In th drawingsz 'f-A represents t e which is det-achably connected to the front a covering 5 of flexible,

upright how 0, and material. The legs *ofeach of the upright bows are detachably engaged in a somewhat usual manner in the brackets f attached to the body of the automobile, To the inner side of the two upright legsofthe front bow member 0 are secured metallic strips 3'', which, as here shown, extend "from the brackets f to a positionjust above the vizorbow, ma -king entrance to the tront seat sr cifi etis i assi tan A: Patented'Jniy1,1913; Application fil'ed August 16,1911. s'et ial lto; ajn,eua;

supporting bowic' [at which position are rigidly mounted metallic appliances 9 havf ing downwardly opening sockets. The

vizor-si'ipport-ing bow"o' has metallic mem} bers in the formo'f strips or'bars h secured to the inner faces of the side portions there of which have their ends in extension beyond the extremities of the legs of said how. At the ends of said metallic members it are upwardly projecting lugs z to engage in the sockets g for the purpose of holding, somewhat in the manner of a lock,the vizorsupporting bow in its extended position. Upon each of the metallic strips h at positions near, but forwardly of the upwardly projecting lugs z, is provided the rearwardlyextending lug k. A link m, is secured to each of the metallicmembers h adjacent the lug 7c and also to each of'the strips 7' on the front upright bow '0,% and m representing; the connecting pivots.

When the hood or vizor member, of the top 0, is in its extended horizontal-position, the lug i on the metallic ni'ember it engages in the casingor pocket 9 and is held from accidental displacement by the link on.

When the hood member is in this position, easy entrance to the; front seat of the automobile is not interfered with, there being no metallic supports or straps extending from the outer end. of the hood to the how 0.

When the top Q is to be carried on the automobile but is not desired in its spread or normal condition, as shpwnin'Fig. 1, the forward part of the vizor-supporting how ,0, is swung bodily in an upward direction,

upon the pivot n, until the then downwardly moving lug 2' becomes disengaged fromthe socket or casing 9, when said bow c is free to be swung downwardly until the lug or hook it enters for a retaining engagement into the socket 0 which is located comparatively low down on the metallic strip j on the front bow 0. After the lug 2' becomes, by

the tilting of the horizontal bin, disengaged from the socket g the end of the. how a on which said lug i is located, is swung forwardly and downwardly about the link pivot n, and the link m makes approximately one half of a revolution upon its pivot m, so that the then vertical lug 7c in the downward movement engages in the socket o, and the normally forward end of the vizor-supporting bow c is positioned adan upper portion thereof, a fixture provided with a downwardly opening socket, and having at a lower portion thereof a fixture provide'd with an upwardly opening socket, of a horizontal bow provided at its rear ex tremity with an upwardly extended lug,

and provided at a short distance forward of such lug with another lug upwardly ofi set from the bow and rearwardly projecting, and a link pifvoted to the upright bow below the upper socketed fixture thereon and to the horizontal bow forward of the rear extremity thereof.

2. In a foldable top for automobiles, in combination, an upright bow and a horizontal bow, and afiiink pivoted to the horizontal bow near its rear end and to the upright bow below .tne horizontal bow whereby the horizontalxbow may be swung on the upper end of the link to a vertical position and then with the link swung to a lowered position closely alongside the upright bow,

and means comprising members secured to the upright and horizontal bows and coacting for interlocking engagements with each other for detachably holding the horizontal bow in its upper horizontal forwardly extended position and also in its vertical position alongside of the upright bo'w.

Signed by me at Springfield, Mass, in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HINSDALE SMITH.

Witnesses lVM. S. BELLOWS, G. R. DRISCOLL. 

